Heartbeat
by Dumb Nerd
Summary: Everyone flows to the rhythm of life whether they like to or not. Pulsing, dancing even to the edge of death and back. Levi Ackerman's life was nowhere near the perfect tune. But when Cloe appears, the beat is about to change all together. Rated T for mild language. :)
1. Chapter 1

"Three MPs were out drinking and accidentally stumbled into the Eastern wing or the Underground. Something happened down there and when other MPs went down there to check on them, they all got killed but one who suffered severe damage to his body but managed to write a report before he died. The following is the report: 'I am dying. Something attacked us and stole all of our gas in our 3DM Gear before turning to me. I tried to escape but the enemy was faster. He kicked me out of the air and continued to sever my limbs until the pattering of footsteps could be heard. He vanished into the shadows like a demon right before the reinforcements came to me. I can only hope that my death brings the killer to justice. I can leave and rest in peace.'"

There was a very pregnant pause as the woman finished speaking, broken only by the sound of her feet pacing up and down the room. Suddenly, she slammed the papers down on to a desk and angrily turned to her audience, which only consisted of a tall, broad and blonde man and a shorter, neatly dressed man.

"This has gone on for too long. There were thirteen killings this week alone. If we don't get this under control, the MPs could potentially stop going down to the underground and we could have a rebellion of thugs and thieves on our hands. Levi, you know the underground better than anyone. Who do you think could possibly be the killer?

The shorter man thought for a second before replying, "There was a rumor of a guardian that protected the Eastern side of the Underground. We've had a close scrape with him once,"

"We know who our enemy is," The woman adjusted her glasses and jotted a note down on to her paper before continuing, "Erwin, we'll take one of your elite soldiers and go down tomorrow. Don't pick an inexperienced one, we don't want any deaths that day,"

With that, the woman left the room, slamming the door shut and leaving her audience alone to ponder about her words in the light of a flickering torch.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys so much for taking time to read my stories! I'm not a particularly fats updater or a very long chapter writer but I am a cliffhanger lover! Please be easy on me, I just recovered from my fanfiction break and this is also my first Attack on Titan fanfiction.**

**Here comes the profanities...**

The next day, word had traveled around of the Survey Corp's new mission. Doors and windows were left slightly ajar for curious eyes to peek out at the small squad consisting of Erwin, Levi, the woman who was better known as Hanji, and a brown haired, dull teal eyed boy called Eren.

At the entrance of the Underground, Levi hesitated, looking warily at the entrance.

"You coming?" Eren's voice seems to snap him back to reality and Levi gave the entrance one last looking before plunging into the darkness.

Water dripped from the ceiling, one dropping on to Eren's cheek and causing his to rub furiously on the spot.

"This is fucking disgusting," Levi muttered under his breath.

They exited the stairs to find much more brighter people living there than when Levi still lived there.. They were dancing, singing, and even eating excessively on foods they couldn't of afforded. The entire Underground seemed to be lit by an unknown light source.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the area, nearly knocking Eren off his feet. The villagers, however, started cheering and clapping. A hooded figure stepped out of the shadows and approached a girl with a gash on her cheek. The entire clearing fell silent as she ran her thumb up the gash while the girl looked up at the person in awe. Then, the figure took its hand off. The gash shimmered for a few seconds before disappearing. At that, Hanji gasped in disbelief and the figure whipped around to face them.

There was a silent face off between the small squad and the unknown person. Moving quietly, the figure approached Levi and reached out a hand - an obviously feminine hand - and gently brushed his nose. She snatched her hand back the second her fingers made contact, like he was made of electricity.

"Levi?" The girl spoke uncertainly, like a leaf trembling in the wind, about to be blown away, "I thought you were dead when the Survey Corps dragged you away. Now you're one of them...Are you guys here for me? I can't let you guys take me away from here, this is my home and they need me. Those MP were just asking for it,"

While she spoke, she reached under her cloak and brought out a small dagger, "I have no choice,"

Eren was the first to move, ramming his shoulder in to her as she turned. The impacted knocked off her hood, but before anyone could get a clear look, she kicked Eren off and shot a cable on to the roof.

"She getting away!" Erwin yelled and they all deployed their 3DMG and chased after her.

The girl was very gifted at using the 3DMG, swinging quickly from building to building, almost rivalling Levi's skill but not quite yet. She flipped on to a higher building and resumed her break neck speed maneuvering.

Levi pulled out one of his blades and threw it at the girl, lodging it in between the right gas tank and severing the wire. The girl fell from the sky and tumbled into the street, rolling over and over until hitting the wall with a sickening crack. There she lay motionless as a statue, facing away from the street.

The squad all jumped down and stood in silence as Erwin walked towards the fallen girl. Right before he could turn her over though, she came back to life, grabbing his wrist and pulling herself up and Erwin down using the momentum.

Erwin toppled over, unbalanced by the sudden additional weight. In the confusion, the girl sped away jumping straight up on to a tall building, at least 10 feet.

"My god," Hanji breathed in disbelief, "Did anyone see that or am I hallucinating? That jump is impossible to do, she shouldn't of been able to do that,"

Yet she did do it. Hanji and Levi left Eren and Erwin to fend for themselves while they chased after the girl who was surprisingly fast despite losing her 3DMG.

Hanji imitated an uppercut motion using her blades, motioning for Levi to do a pincer attack, one from above and one from below.

Levi hopped down on to the street, keeping pace with Hanji as she steadily gained on the girl. Finally, as the girl jumped across the street to avoid Hanji's lunge, Levi lept up and knocked her on to the ground, keeping his blade pressed firmly on to her throat.

Erwin and Eren skidded to a stop next to Levi. The girl struggled to break free of both Hanji and Levi's grip, but they were too strong. Hanji grabbed the edge of her hood and pulled it back, revealing the girl arching her neck as a result of Hanji pulling some of her hair along with the hood.

"Wait," Levi's eyes widened, "I saw you die. I saw you die years ago,"

This was the first time any of the others had seen Levi express emotions beyond that pissed look or the angry face.

"Levi, who is this?" Eren stuttered.

The girl hung her head in shame as the villagers around them expressed their concern and anger. They shouted profanities and shook their fists at the soldiers but made no attempt to stop them.

"Why didn't you come back, you little piece of shit?" Levi yelled at the girl who seemed to have flinched, "You even saw us back then, why didn't you come back?"

"Levi, Levi stop," Hanji attempted to calm Levi down but with no avail.

"Fuck you, I hope you die!"

"I didn't want to!" The girl suddenly screamed, her piercing ice blue eyes dug right in to Levi's, for the first time ever effectively silencing him, "You don't want to know how much it fucking hurt me to stay away from all of you. You were always so quick to judge Levi. I stayed away to protect you all,"

"You don't need your shitty protection," Levi hissed.

"Yes, you do," The girl said, her voice breaking, "I wanted to tell you guys so badly, but who knows what would've happened if anyone found out about me,"

The girl took a deep breath and suddenly a soft breeze swept throughout the streets, "I can control the elements. If anyone found out, they would've definitely took me away to experiment on. So I pretended to die in that landslide years ago. I thought I was protecting you all from staying away and distant,"

"Come with us," Erwin stated, "We could use your strength. The Survey Corps can protect you from experiments. You could have a member of your past back,"

"I don't need him anymore. This is my home and there is no where you are dragging me out of here alive," She snarled fiercely at the commander and again tried to pry off their hands but with no avail. Then, she let a small smirk creep up her face, "You can't take me away,"

The girl burst into vicious flames, singeing Levi and Hanji's sleeves. Thankfully, they had sensed that she'd do something and released her a split second before she attacked, saving their hands.

Levi leapt towards the little girl that she had recently healed and held a blade to her throat, "Stop the fire or I will kill,"

The woman turned around and looked at Levi with malice, but put out the fire. Hanji snuck up behind her and gave her a blow to the head, knocking her out immediately. Levi released the girl, allowing her to run back to her mother, crying and shaking.

The townspeople jeered at them, screaming for their savior back. Erwin hefted the unconscious person over his shoulder jerked his head towards the stairs. Time to leave.

As they walked away from the angry people that Eren and Hanji were barely able to hold back with their blades, Erwin glanced at the girl, still unconscious.

"You never told us her name," He pointed out.

Levi blinked in surprise, but quickly regained his stoic expression, "It's Cloe (AN: Pronounced like glow but with a c). Spelled C-L-O-E,"

It was like he had memorized it because it wasn't like Levi to talk like that.

Suddenly, Cloe stirred and coughed twice.

"She's coming to," Erwin commented.

Levi hit her head again.

**So I'm not, as I said before, a quick updater but I will be posting the times when I will be uploading a new chapter. Hopefully, I can make it at that time**

**Chapter 3: Feb 4th**

**Chapter 4: Feb 11th**

**Chapter 5: Feb 18th**

**Chapter 6: Feb 25th**

**Chapter 7: March 4th**

**I probably won't put as many cuss words, I just added them for the argument. Tell me what you think in the comments. Did I overpower the characters? How should I make it different? I NEED HELP!**

**Funny of the chapter:**

**(We're typing this on a Google Document)**

**My Friend, Asia: So we have to get working on our story about a live surgery without anesthetic in WWII. **

**Me: Here's the beginning: Ken Yuasa looked out into the prairie where the unicorns grazed on the fluffy pink marshmallows. Suddenly, a purple unicorn named Pippy Squeakers galloped over-"**

**Asia: Emma, be serious! *starts erasing my story***

**Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! PIPPY SQUEAKERS! WHY IS THIS WORLD SO CRUEL?!**

**Okay, you guys have a great week! It's FREEZING over in Northern USA!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back you guys! I send THANK YOUS to followers and favorite people alike. But I only answer to reviews. Duh. Otherwise you technically didn't say anything. THANK YOU to:**

**Inuhana**

**kittylover195678**

**Kaizer kiryu**

**Jayde Jackson**

**Thesodora**

**gregcipesforever1980**

**darkshadow978**

**You guys are awesome! Starting from this chapter, I'll be including part of Cloe's older life so you guys can piece together the messy puzzle. BTW, there is a slightly lemon part in the next chapter but if you don't like it, don't worry, it lasts for 2 short paragraphs and I don't go into detail. :P**

**You have been warned.**

**Also, I changed the book cover. If you're on Fanfiction, I changed my name into Dumb Nerd.**

_A small family entered a crowded and noisy bar. The bartender gazed at the small girl hiding behind her father's legs and shook his head._

"_Children in the Kids Corner," He commanded in a low gruff then raised an arm to point at a dimly lit, fenced in corner consisting of a lightbulb, a minute table, two chairs, and a few building blocks._

"_Go on," The dad gently gave the girl a push._

_She waddled over to the corner, leaving her mother and father amongst their laughing and drinking she sat and started to build a small house out of the limited blocks in her possession when suddenly, she felt someone watching her. Behind her there was a black haired, twinkling steel grey eyed boy with the largest smile in existence._

"_Hey," The girl said bluntly and returned to her blocks._

"_Hi!" He sat down next to her, handing her block after block while he ran his mouth, "What's your name?"_

_The girl smiled, warming up to the boy, "I'm Cloe. It's spelled C-L-O-E,"_

"_Cool!" The boy handed Cloe a triangular block, "I've never heard of that name before. My name's Levi! How old are you? I'm 6,"_

"_5," Cloe murmured, completely absorbed by her work. When she finished, she turned to face Levi, "Hey wanna be friends? I haven't got any other friends as young as me,"_

"_Sure!" Levi brightened even more if that was even possible. He spoke with a lisp since he had lost a tooth._

"_Hey look, there are some babies in the baby section!" A new voice entered the conversation, killing the happy mood. It was two older boys, around 8, and after he said that line, his friends started giving him highfives. _

"_We're not babies!" Cloe and Levi yelled at the same time, standing up and balling their fists._

"_Aw, it even lost a tooth!" The older boy pinched Levi's cheeks as he flushed with embarrassment._

_Cloe glared at the bullies with the meanest stare that she could muster._

"_Have fun playing with your building blocks babies!" With that, they poured their drinks that they were holding on to Cloe and Levi._

_Cloe spat to the side, clearing her mouth then turned to Levi. His hair was dripping wet with little water droplets flicking off of his eyelashes but didn't seem to notice. He was too busy looking at the retreating bullies backs with anger._

"_I hate you guys!" _

Cloe's POV

I woke up in a dungeon bed, my wrists chained and bound by iron cuffs. My torso, legs, and neck were also chained to the ground, the one around my neck constantly applying an uncomfortable pressure.I tried summoning my powers but with no avail. They must've drugged me.

"Let me out!" I screamed, hoping to attract attention. To my surprise, the ground gave a slight tremor, and my heartbeat quickened as I tried it again. Nothing happened.

"You do know that's not going to work right?" I'd recognize that monotone voice anywhere.

Levi and Erwing were seated outside of my cell. Erwin looked quite serious while Levi, on the other hand, looked incredibly bored. My anger flared up when I saw the two of them.

"Why did you take me away? They needed me back there! Do you know what they've gone through?" I snarled. None of them seemed fazed, "People like that need something to give them hope, something to hang on to. But now even that was taken away from them!"

Levi glanced at me, unfazed by my outbreak, "Keep squealing and the Military Police will kill you for sure," He walked into the cell, unlocking and pushing open the barred doors and grabbed the front of my shirt, "Listen up you piece of shit. I had this area specially built under MY house in one day. They didn't even bother to clean this place up after they left. I had to endure all of this just so they could shove your useless ass somewhere,"

I growled and spat in his face, causing him to recoil in disgust. Levi wiped it off and glared at me with hate before lunging for me, '_Shit, I'm screwed,'_

But Levi didn't get further than a strong left hook in to my face that left me seeing stars and choking and retching as the pressure increased. Erwin had thankfully restrained him, and since Levi was so short, he just held Levi's head in one spot as he struggled to get away.

"Ms. Cloe," Erwin addressed formally, "The MP has acquired intel we have the killer. If, you join us, we'll keep your identity a secret. However, if you decline, we'll give you over to them and you will be totally their responsibility. Considering that you killed quite a few of them, I'm going to guess that you guys aren't going to be friends,"

That was basically a threat. I hung my head in defeat and nodded.

"Good. You'll be joining the 108th trainee squad. I've already signed you up. Training starts tomorrow,"

With that, they left me in the dark cell, Levi casting me one more spiteful look. Only the stars watched over me as I fell into a fitful and rather uncomfortable sleep.

_(I hate time skips)_

"Attention!" A tall man, Captain Shardis, screamed at one of the recruits, 'welcoming' her, "What's your name pipsqueak?"

The fragile girl attempted a weak salute and murmured some inaudible words.

"What was that? If you stay that loud, we might just feed you to our captive titans; no one be able to hear your screams,"

She trembled and tried again, only to be struck down by a headbutt by him. Sobbing, she collapsed on the ground.

"Let that be a lesson to you guys. We don't take weaklings. Hear that Missy? Or was that too loud for you?"

"Who are you?" He moved on to me as I smirked. '_Bad choice buddy,'_ "What the hell are you smiling about?"

"Cloe," I said simply with as little emotion as I could manage without bursting out laughing.

"Cloe? Just Cloe? Don't you have a fucking last name?" Shardis roared.

I stared him straight in to the eye, "Yeah. Just Cloe from nowhere in particular,"

Shardis paused to see if I was joking, then swung a fist at me. As fast as lightning, I dodged it, letting it just brush my nose, and used his momentum to flip him. He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as the kids around us laughed.

"Sir, it's really just Cloe. My parents died mere days after I was born. My adoptive parent's last name was Murphy. But they were abusive so I don't want to be related to them in anyway," I took a deep shaky breath before continuing. All eyes were on me now, "Someone killed them. I don't know who but I owe them a favor for doing so since my life was living hell until they died. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear before,"

Captain Shardis nodded satisfied with my story and moved on. I exhaled in relief.

Who was I kidding? Of course I knew who killed them. I was there at the scene of the crime, watching the knife enter and exit their bodies; I saw the life disappear. Every little detail was imprinted in my mind even though I was only 5 when it happened and 17 years had passed.

I remember every single detail because I killed them.

**And BAM! Cliffhanger ending. So in the next chappie, we continue the story of Cloe's past and stuff. I was going to make the next chapter 1 huge chapter with #5 and 4, but nah. I'm evil. But don't worry, you won't have to wait long. I'm doing a special update on Valentine's day.**

**Update schedule:**

**February 11th - Chapter 4**

**February 14th - Chapter 5**

**February 18th - Chapter 6**

**February 25th - Chapter 7**

**March 4th - Chapter 8**

**Funny of the chapter: (Again, we are typing on a shared word document)**

**Asia: Butt we have to get a topic for my new story!**

**Me: Maybe you should write about butts…**

**Asia: Butt → (_)(_)**

**Me: Amateur _)_) wiggle (_(_**

**Okay, that's all! Don't forget to review because I live on those things!**

**Also, one last note. I made a blog that gives fanfiction recommendations, reviews, and other stuff. PM me if you want me to do your story, but not if you don't like criticism. Check it out: **** . **

**NOW THAT'S ALL! Me is out!**


	4. AN

**Sorry to disappoint you all but this is just gonna be an author's note. Why? Because I'm informing you that I won't be updating for a while; I'm studying for a State Competition and I'll have no time for writing. I'm sorry! Please don't get angry, I'll try to update as soon as I can but I doubt I'll be able to update in February. The reason why I promised a chapter in February is because I didn't think I'd passed the regionals but I did! Also, I'm currently in a more of a Fairy Tail phase so I lost a bit of interest in Attack on Titan. You guys should seriously give Fairy Tail a shot. A really long series and the animation is pretty good as well. Don't worry, I'll make sure the next chapter is large and has a nice twist in the end. Just wait a little longer… :'(**


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